Ship-cleaning apparatus.



PATENTED MAR. 31, 1908.

A R. ROGERS. SHIP CLEANING APPARATUS.

' APPLIUATION FILED MAR- 1B, 1907.

\ 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

no. 883,423. -PATENTED MAR. 31,1908.

' A. R. ROGERS.

. SHIP CLEANING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-1B, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

\ I/ 6 9 Al/orney ARTHUR R. ROGERS, OF JONESPORT, MAINE.

SHIP-CLEANING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 81, 1908.

Application filed March 18, 1907. Serial No. 362,954.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR R. RooERs, of Jonesport, in the county ofWashington and State of Maine, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ship- Cleaning Apparatus; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will'enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in ship cleaning apparatus, theobject of the invention being to provide an apparatus which may bereadily applied to all vessels however propelled, while under headway,and will be actuated by the movement of the vessel through the water,and will operate effectually to remove barnacles, marine growths and allother foreign materials from the submerged portion of the hull.

With this object in view my invention consists in certain features 'ofconstruction and combinations of parts in a ship cleaning apparatus aswill be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in end elevation of avessel having my improved ship cleaning apparatus a plied thereto. Fig.2 is a side view of tfie same. Fig. 3 is a detached view of one of therevolving scrapers. Fig. 4 is a detached view of the universal joint ofone of the scrapers. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the latter and Fig. 6

, is a view of the guiding frame which fits over the keel of the vessel.

A represents the revolving scrapers, each of which is conical in form,and is provided with flanges a the edges a of which constitute scraperswhich by their rotary movement in contact with the hull of the vessel,serve to remove barnacles and other foreign matter or material adheringthereto. When the ship is under headway the conical scrapers are drawnthrough the water and are rotated by means of their spiral flanges, thespeed of their rotationdepending on the speed of the vessel. A series ofthese revolving conical scrapers are flexibly connected together in thefollowing manner. Each scraper A has secured to its forward end a rod Bhaving a head or collar b whichseatson the rear end of a link C, thelatter being pivoted at c to a sleeve D mounted on a wire guide rope E.By means of this construction the scraper isfree to rotate and ispermitted a universal movement to enable it to operate in contact with asection of the hull wider than the diameter of the scraper as the actionof the water-combined with the flexible joints of the support will causethe scrapers to revolve in different planes.

, Two series of revolving scrapers are used, one for each side of thevessel, connected by the keel iron or guiding frame, guide ropes beingsecured at their lower ends to the upper end of the guiding frame Fwhich is preferably made as a light steel structure and of proper formto fit around the keel of the vessel, while the upper ends of the guideropes are attached to rings or appliances from which two short tailropes lead to and are securely attached to the rail or deck, one tailrope being attached at a point one space further aft than the other. Asthe cleaning progresses and it is desired to move the scrapers furtheraft, the forward tail rope is slackened and made fast further aft, theother tail rope holding the strain and moving the scrapers aft duringthe shift.

At the eyes g 9 provided on the upper end ,of the guiding frame areattached two bow lines G G which lead forward one on each side of theship and are adjustably secured to cleats on deck. The resistance of thescrapers when drawn through the water by the ship under headway willtend to draw aft the two series of scrapers and guiding frame and byslackening out the bow lines of the guiding frame and shifting aft theguide ropes supporting the scrapers, the whole apparatus can be easilyapplied to successive vertical sections of the under body of the vesseluntil her whole length has been covered and cleaned.

T 0 put the apparatus in position for operation pass one series ofscrapers with the guide ropes around the bow so that one series may beon the port and one on the starboard side of the vessel. Then fit theguiding frame over the stem of the ship and lower it keeping it inosition until it engages the keel, then haul al the lines taut takingcare to keep the two series of scrapers in a perpendicular line as faras possible. The ship is then started with the result that all of thescrapers will trail aft and rotate and clean the first berth or firstvertical section of the under body of the ship. After the scrapers haveremained in that position a suflicient length of time to remove all thebarnacles or foreign matter, the port and starboard guide ropes aremoved aft one space as above described and the bow lines holding theguide frame are slackened accordingly so that the port and starboardguiding ropes will stand in a perpendicular line, and in this manner thescrapers are adjusted from time to time until they have operated uponimfi cleaned the entire under body of the If the apparatus is to beapplied to a wooden vessel painted or coppered, the flanges of thescrapers are to be made of a material composed. of rubber and cotton incombination so as to produce a soft and yielding material which will nottear or injure the paint or copper, but will be sufliciently hard toremove foreign material.

WVhen the scrapers are applied to a ship propelled by a screw care mustbe taken not to allow the scrapers to become entangled with the screw,and it may be advisable when the cleaning process has reached the run ofthe ship to stop the vessel, shift the guiding frame and scrapers aft toa point immediately forward of the screw, tautening the several lines soas to hold the apparatus in place against a backward motion of the ship,and then reverse the screw and start the ship backwards. In this mannerthe scrapers are thrown in contact with all. parts of the run up to thepoint already cleaned, shifting forward from time to time as formerlythe scrapers have been shifted aft.

To adjust the apparatus to a paddle wheel a suitable guide rope can berun from forward to aft inside the wheel, and when the scrapers havereached the wheel they can be shifted around the wheel by the tail ropesattached to this lateral guide. After the ship has been cleaned herentire length she is sto ped and the apparatus taken aboard.

n the arrangement of the series of scrapers it may be preferred to havehalf the scrapers built with right flanges and half with left flanges,and to have the scrapers alternate in each series so that each scraperwill revolve in an opposite direction from the one above and below it.The object of this is to enable the flanges if the scrapers ha pen tocome together to fit into each other li e teeth on cog wheels, so thateach would assist the other in its rotation.

My improvement in this cleaning apparatus will result in a great savingto ship owners because it will be possible for ships to be kept thorou'hly cleaned without docking, and especial y upon long voyages andbetween ports where there are no dry docks. In this way the speed ofvessels can be materially increased and the expense and delay incidentupon frequent docking for purposes of cleaning will be obviated, whileno damage will be done to the paint, copper, or bottom of the ship.

Having fully described my invention what 1 I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a ship cleaning apparatus, the combination with an adjustablesupport, of a series of superimposed cone shaped scrapers, eachconnected at one end with said support, and free at the other end, andeach scraper having a spiral flange.

2. The combination with an adjustable support, a series of superimposedscrapers having spiral flanges, and universal oints connecting one endof each scraper with the support, the other ends of said scrapers beingfree.

3. The combination with a flexible sup port, of a series of revolvingbodies provided with rigid spiral flanges and constituting scrapers freeat one end, and universal joints for securing the other ends of saidscrapers to the flexible support.

4. The combination with a wire rope, of a conical scraper provided withspiral flanges, a sleeve adjustably mounted on the wire rope, a linkpivoted to the sleeve, and a rotary connection between the link andscraper substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a guiding frame constructed to engage the keelof a vessel, and ropes attached to said frame, of a series of revolvingscrapers free atone end and connected at their other ends with theguiding frame, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with a guiding frame, and supporting ropes attachedthereto, of revolving scrapers connected at their forward ends to thesaid frame by swiveled oints and free at their other ends, substantiallyas set forth.

7. The combination with a rope, of a series of revolving scrapersconnected at their forward ends to said rope and free at their otherends, and means for adjusting the scrapers vertically and longitudinallyof the hull of the vessel.

8. The combination with a series of revolving scrapers, of ropes forsupporting one end of each scraper, the other end being free and ropesfor insuring the longitudinal movement of the scrapers along the hull ofthe vessel, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination with a guiding frame constructed to engage the keelof a vessel and a rope attached to said frame, of a conical scraperprovided with spiral flanges, a sleeve on said rope, a link pivoted tothe sleeve and a rotary connection between the link and scraper,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR H. ROGERS. I/Vitnesses:

H. L. HARDING, WINTHROP WETHERBEE.

